Not enough under/over?

[CaboWabo]

Lets say you shoot what you think is what think is needed for under exposed and over exposed and when you get home you have blown highlights , how and what is the best way to fix it ? I understand you should always shoot more to so you can throw out the shots you dont need but things happen . Is adjusting one in camera raw in photoshop the way to go or is there another way ? I am noob at it all so I am just trying to get more info to get better thats all .

 

[480sparky]

Once you end up with blown-out highlights or totally black shadows, you're outta luck.

I spot meter the brightest area, spot meter the darkest area, then shoot a frame for each stop in between. Plus, if time permits, an extra on at each end.

 

[vipgraphx]

I would not say ur totally out of luck, adjusting the darkest exposure in camera raw would take care of it or brightest exposure.
Sometimes you have to do what you got to do. It's. It's best to have all exposures because even in a single exposure in raw that exposure has a certain dynamic range that can be adjusted.

This is also where masking your original exposures with your tone mapped ones really help!

 

[Bynx]

I have blinkies on my camera which shows when my highlights are blown. I adjust my shutter speed so the blinkies are gone. Then I just rotate the dial to the left 3 clicks and that reduces the fstop by 1/3 fstop for each click. Take the shot and repeat until you have details in your shadows. The thing with taking your shots.....the highlight might be a bright street light which is very bright, while the midtones of the image might be 4 or 5 fstops darker and the shadows only 2 more fstops darker yet. So for the most part you are shooting for the shadows and mid tones, then you have to move up 5 fstops to get the highlights of the streetlights. All the shots between the midtones and the streetlights might not be needed but for easy of doing it, you may as well.

 

[CaboWabo]

Thanks for all the reply's I get the fact you really need the extra ones just wondering how others were working it with they came up a bit short on exposures once you got back home . I really live in a great city for hdr and wanna get better at it thanks for all the help again